^{I have few photographs of her as a child, the earliest being about age 7, taken at Whitley Bay where she went on holiday with her mother every year. She left school at age 14 and went to work in a shoe shop,Parishes in Newcastle - on-Tyne. She used some of her early earnings to have a studio portrait of herself taken}

^{After a few years she got a better job as a window dresser for Timpsons. While there she went to evening classes and there met my father.}

 

1939	1939	1944	1945

^{They went out together for a while and had photographs taken. When my father joined the Royal Engineers in 1939 he wrote to her regularly and sent her pictures of the places he went to.
During world War II she joined the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) and drove lorries. The picture at the top of this page was taken by a friend of her's. She was given the negative but never saw a positive print until 55 years later when I produced one for her.}

>^{In 1946 my parents married. Although the war was over rationing was still in force so a white wedding was not an option. Since my mother's father had died in 1943 she was given away by her brother John Marr (Jack). Her bridesmaid was my father's sister Margaret Ann Chapman (Nancy)}

My sister Janice Patricia Chapman was born on 31st Jan 1947 and two years later I was born on 1st Feb 1949. By that time the family had bought a house - 20 Julian Avenue, Walkergate, Newcastle on Tyne.

1957	1963	1963	1964

When our family moved out to the farm at Carrshield, my mother largely managed it on her own, I was away at a boarding school for most of the year and my elder sister married early and moved to the village two miles away. She looked after sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens; made hay by hand, repaired drystone walls and still found time to look after the house, garden and us. The farm was fairly remote - almost two miles from the village. At first my mother got a lot of advice from our neighbour Sarah Clark who ran the farm near ours. We bought milk from her but the rest of our food we either grew ourselves or bought from the travelling shops which came around.

We had no tractor and most of the tractor work necessary was done by Dick Phillipson of Nenthead. Dick also helped out a lot on the farm and was a regular visitor.The pictures above show her driving Dick's tractor. One day she was using it to bring 'pikes' (stacks of hay) into our barn and was going uphill past our house. She decided to change gear but missed it. The tractor started rolling backwards down the hill and she was not heavy enough to stamp on the brakes enough to stop it. It had the potential for a disaster but she was saved by the pike loader running into one of the large scotts pines which ran in a row across our hayfield. In 1997 I visited the farm again - it's now a Buddhist Monastery - Throstle Hole Priory - you can still see the mark on the tree where the steel spike embedded itself.

My mother earned extra money by delivering children to the local school in Carrshield and by delivering mail to Carrshield and the surrounding area. When I was at home in my holidays I helped out in this.

After divorcing my father my mother sold the farm - and bought Catton Post Office and general store.

In 1975 she remarried John (Jack) Henderson. Jack was a builder, at first working for John Armstrong and then on his retirement working for himself. Jack also had a half share of a farm just outside Catton village.
When my mother retired Jack converted the shop into an extra living room. While doing work on the house I took this phtograph of my mother helping to melt tar for the roof of a shower room they added. That photograph became the 'Catton Witch'

Their address became 'Greenview', Catton.

 

At this time my Aunt Dora - Dorathy Nettleton and her husband Arthur Nettleton came to live with with my mother. Dora was suffering from Altzeimer's disease and Arthur had Parkinsons disease. Eventually their condition became so severe that they had to relocate to a rest home in Newcastle.

 

 

After his retirement Jack suffered from a combination of arthritis, silicosis and asbestosis, conditions he acquired from his work as a 'Bevin boy' in W.W.II and from his work as a builder.
After Jack's death in 1999 my mother moved house in 2001 to Allendale.

 

 

Birth Certificate UK.

Registration District: Newcastle on Tyne
1923. Birth in the Sub-district of Byker in the County Borough of Newcastle on Tyne
No.	When and where born	Name, if any	Sex	Name, surname and surname of father	Name, surname and maiden surname of mother	Occupation of father	Signature, description, and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
23A/128	5th Aug 1923 120 Tynemouth Road U.B.	Eleanor Vera Marr	Girl	Charles Gullon Marr	Margaret Isabella Marr formarly Foggan	General labourer	M I Marr Mother 120 Tynemouth Road Newcastle	31st August 1923	TB Stanbrook Deputy Registrar	/

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Registration District Newcastle - on - Tyne
1946 Marriage solemnized at The parish Church in the ..... of St. Mark Byker in the County of borough of Newcastle-on-Tyne
No.	When Married	Name and Surname	Age.	Condition.	Rank or Profession.	Residence at the time of Marriage	Father's Name and Surname.	Rank or Profession of Father.
351	27th April 1946	John Robinson Chapman	25	Bachelor	Engineer	57 Cochrane Park Ave., Long Benton	Fred Chapman	Civil Servant
		Eleanor Vera Marr	22	Spinster	/	330 Chillingham Rd., Heaton	Charles Gullon Marr (deceased)	Coach Driver
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church by ... or after banns								by me,
This marriage was solemnized between us,	John Robinson Chapman			in the presence of us,	Ann M. Chapman			H.K. Turner
	Eleanor Vera Marr				F.G. Chapman J.W. Calvert			Vicar